1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooking stove comprising heating means, and in particular, to a cooking stove comprising an operation section that indicates an operation of heating means on a top surface of a top plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A drop-in type cooking stove is conventionally known in which a cooking stove main body 101 is buried in an opening formed in a counter top of a system kitchen as shown in FIG. 10. Operation knobs 103a and 103b are provided on a glass top plate 102 to ignite and extinguish gas burners 100a and 100b and to adjust thermal power; the glass top plate 102 covers a top surface of the cooking stove main body 101 in which gas burners 100a and 100b are accommodated (see, for example, Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 58-186302 (1983)).
Such a cooking stove eliminates the need to form an opening through which an operation section is viewed, in a front surface of the counter top as in the case in which a cooking stove comprising an operation section in a front surface is installed. The cooking stove can be easily installed in the counter top. Further, the gas burners can be ignited and extinguished and thermal power adjusted using the operation knobs 103a and 103b, provided on the top plate 102 and which are thus easy to see. Consequently, a user can operate the cooking stove more easily and effectively.
In accordance with the cooking stove shown in FIG. 10, however, the operation knobs 103a and 103b are arranged so as to project from the top surface of the glass top plate 102. Accordingly, the operation knobs 103a and 103b may obstruct cooking. Thus, for example, a detecting section of an electrical-capacitance sensor may be provided on a back surface of the glass top plate 102 as means for operating the gas burners 100a and 100b. On the other hand, a touch switch comprising an operation section may be constructed on a front surface of the glass top plate 102. Further, the top surface of the glass top plate 102 may be made flat.
However, if the touch switches are provided as described above, any of them may be turned on when covered with a cooked material boiling over from a pan or the like placed on trivets 104a and 104b or with an object falling onto the glass top plate 102. Further, a child may tamper with any of the touch switches or a user may unconsciously touch any of the touch switches.
Thus, for example, while cooking is being carried out using only the right burner 100b, a lighting switch for the left burner 100a may be turned on by a cooked material boiling over from a pan placed on the trivet 104b of the right burner 100b. In this case, the left burner 100a is ignited.
It is thus an object of the present invention to eliminate these disadvantages to provide a cooking stove that prevents a burner from being ignited when a touch switch shifts from a non-sensing state to a sensing state contrary to a user's expectations owing to, for example, a factor different from the user's operation.